Although it pains me to repeat myself, I post the beginning of an email pitch I received this morning. It’s the perfect example of why I wrote Tip #98: Make it snappy, Sweetheart.

Subject: Everyone loves a good pitch in the morning

Rafe,

Who am I kidding, no one truly enjoys reading a press release; much less being bombarded by them hourly. If you don’t mind hearing mine, then keep reading… and if you don’t, then feel free to click the shiny red X or red circle at the top of the page anytime.

6 responses to “Tip #167: Don’t bury the lead”

RE: Tip #167: Don’t bury the lead
Amen! Inexperienced PR folks often sacrifice a strong pitch for being cute or chummy – or, worse, by projecting themselves into the story, as this person did. Stop talking to yourself and stop wasting my time. Instead, do your homework, identify my interests, then address them in one short, succinct sentence or two. This is good advice for any kind of business email correspondence. I get some doozies (like this one) from people trying to market business services to me.

Those long and tiring pitches belong in the history. I surprised someone sent you something like this, I thought we were passed that long ago… Apparently not. Short, quick and breezy pitch will do the work just fine.